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Monday, July 30, 2012

VIRGINIA
Virginia is for lovers... BEER lovers that is. Virginia kicks off its Craft Beer Month this Wednesday. Celebrate with Blue Mountain Brewery's "Steal a Glass" night. Pay five bucks for a beer and keep the pint glass. Or you can go to Wild Wolf Brewing Company for their new beer release, the Wit Wolf and Ginger Lager. Both events are Wednesday, August 1st.

If you are looking for something a bit more verbose, join the Devils Backbone Brewing Company on August 9th for their Farm to Table Dinner. It's described as:

A four course dinner featuring fruits, vegetables, and beef produced by
Saunders Brothers in Piney River including Gala apples, Asian pears,
ribeye steaks, green beans, tomatoes, peaches, and sweet corn. All farm
products for the dinner have traveled only 15 miles to the restaurant.

Can't make it to the Farm to Table Dinner? Well at least mark your calendars for the August 25th Craft Brewers Fest, located at the Devils Backbone concert grounds. To learn more about this event, please visit the Virginia Craft Brewers Fest website.

ST. LOUIS
Speaking of craft beer week - it may have already started, but you still have time to join St. Louis Craft Beer Week. Their calendar of events page is filled with things to do all week long. If it were up to me (which it isn't, since I don't live in St. Louis), I would check out Bigelo's Bistro "Sharing and Pairing" event. According to the St. Louis beer week website:

Sharing and Pairing Beer Dinner - Bigelo’s Bistro – 6PMPrice – $20 – Reservations are required (618) 655-1471This is a four course beer dinner, with a
twist. All of the beers will be provided by you! Mark at Bigelos has put
together four courses and asks that you bring four beers that you think
pair best with the meal. This is a great way to share and pair. Here’s
the menu:
1st – Huitlacoche tamale w/ poblano creme
2nd – Pale ale and cheddar polenta fries w/ house bbq sauce
3rd – Korean bbq short rib tacos w/ sriracha slaw
4th – White chocolate bread pudding w/ carmel sauce

One needn’t look further than the desk in the existing brewery, where a silver medal from the 2011 Great American Beer Festival
resides happily amongst brew notes for a clear indicator of Breakside's
trajectory. The silver (and a newly won bronze medal from the 2012 World Beer Cup) for Breakside's Dry Irish Stout have also recently been added to the brewery's accolades.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

It is our last week of summer seasonals and I'm going to go a bit of the beaten track for the first. My first candidate is only available in Iceland and then only in small batches though if all goes well larger batches soon. Sumarliði Hveitibjor Nr.11 is brewed by Borg Brugghús. The good brewmasters at Borg gave me this bottle when I stopped in and visited them last month in Reykjavik.

Pours darker than you would expect, a hazy golden almost amber color with some sediment settling at the bottom of the glass. It doesn't have the big banana nose like some German variants, it is more subtle. On the drink it has a nice yeasty hoppiness mixed in with some wheat and banana finishing out with little bitterness and some wheat lingering around in the aftertaste. This is a good hefeweizen and it hits all the notes, but it does have a bit of peculiarity. This is like your cousin from a different part of the country. Same family, but different point of view on things. This isn't a German hefeweizen, it is an Icelandic hefeweizen that speaks German and has some extended family living over there.

I did a sausage test on it, enjoying the beer with bratwurst and spaetzle, (ideally it would have been weisswurst but it can't always be perfect) and here the beer worked very well complimenting the spice and flavor of the meat. For this brew that is the ideal situation, to be a natural accompaniment to the grill or a picnic. I enjoyed Sumarliði a lot and only hope that eventually Borg will import to the States sooner rather than later. This comes in at an enjoyable 6.0% ABV.

Here is the party line on

"Sumarliði is the first German wheat beer produced and sold in Iceland.This prestigious and enjoyable beer style can be traced back to Bavaria, where beer like this is called Hefeweizen and enjoys immense popularity."

This is delicious. Cherry, cherry, and more cherry. It poured a clear scarlet red with minimal head. On the drink you get cherry. It is has some tartness, but it is interwoven with more sweetness than you would expect. It is a rich beer, but it isn't heavy or cloying, with intense flavors up but clearing of the palette very quickly with just a hint of tart funkiness in the aftertaste. It was a very smooth drinker with decent carbonation.

This is a great example of beer as dessert. It would work amazing with cheesecake, decent with chocolate, and fine as a digestif alone. It comes in at a surprising but very well masked 6.5% ABV. If you wanted a beer to convert diehard wine drinkers to the joys of the grain then this may very well be your ticket.

You’ll have a soft spot for this one. Using only fresh Michigan tart cherries, this beauty tantalizes with intense flavors combined with a no-hesitation malt bill. Adding fresh cherries at five separate stages of fermentation achieves the ultimate balance between tartness and sweetness.

We have barely scratched the surface of what is available during the summer season and for the most part stuck by traditional summers like pale wheats. There are many others sitting on the shelves waiting for you to discover them so get out there and explore! Let us know in the comments what a few of your favorite summer brews were this year.

I'll be down in Nashville this coming weekend, more on that later, but before we get there look for another round of summer seasonal reviews and wine store recommendations for growing your beer selection.

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Thursday, July 19, 2012

We are still battling the heat out here, though a respite comes tomorrow. I have to admit I really don't like the heat, once it gets above 85 degrees I would prefer to shut down and do a whole lot of nothing. There is an exception to this, if I am on a nice sandy beach, breeze blowing off the ocean, resting in a chair with an umbrella, a beer in one hand, and a gin and tonic chaser in the other then it can be 90, 100, 105 degrees, I'll be just fine, otherwise give me cold day any day. That said, the real reason we are here tonight is to continue looking at a few summer seasonals.

Our first candidate is Farmhouse Summer Ale by Flying Fish Brewery out of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. It poured a hazy golden color with a big, fluffy, white head that slowly settled. There was a lot of particulate swirling about, finally coming to rest at the bottom of the glass. This had a nice crisp bite up front with good carbonation. It was effervescent, fruity, and light on the tongue with some mild bitterness and faint grassiness in the aftertaste wrapping up with a dry finish. Overall it reminded me of a lighter version of a comes of as a lighter version of a saison, which isn't a bad thing particularly on a hot day. This beer is a decent summer drinker that I would use for a more "formal" summer party. I think this has the potential to be a really good cheese beer. It comes in at a refreshing 4.6% ABV. For my first Flying Fish experience it sets a pretty solid standard. I'm pretty happy with the result.

A tribute to the highly drinkable "every day" beers from French-speaking Belgium. Contains Belgian two-row pale malt and 7% wheat. This beer is lightly filtered with an earthy, spicy hop character from imported Styrian Goldings hops and a beautiful rich creamy head from the wheat.

Our other candidate for the night is Shipyard Brewery's Summer Ale from Portland, Maine. This is a pale wheat ale, the American craft brewers' go to style when brewing up a summer seasonal. This poured a clear dark golden color with little head that quickly disappeared.

This is bigger in taste than other summer seasonals I have had. It reminds me almost of a lager in the way that it has a larger body. It clearly is punching above its weight class here. There is some faint fruitiness and a flat taste of wheat, fair carbonation, with a lingering but small bitterness in the aftertaste which hovers in the background for a good while after then drink. It is an all right brew but doesn't really do anything to standout from the crowd other than be more filling and bigger bodied than other summer seasonals. That isn't necessarily a good thing on a hot summer day. It comes in at a smooth 5.1% ABV.

The big news is that Jolly Good Fellows is going to the 2012 Great American Beer Festival. We received our media credentials late yesterday afternoon. That gives us about three months to plan, coordinate, stress out, and create outlandish expectations! If any of you are going to be there let us know so we can meet up, drink a pint, and share stories.

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Saturday, July 14, 2012

A few weekends ago the 5th Annual Northern Virginia Summer Brewfest had a craft beer celebration out at Morvern Park in Leesburg. Most of the festivals I've attended over the last few years have done a great job with the beer so now I have started to look at other factors, the intangibles that make a festival a great experience or a fiasco. We have all been to festivals that are too crowded, no parking, beer ran out early, and frankly just annoying. My intent is to use the NoVa Summer Brewfest as a case study of how to run a festival.

There was only one real hiccup and that was actually finding it which was entirely my fault for not reading thoroughly on the website. I know a little due diligence on my part would have prevented me from running all over northern Virginia. I do know I was not the only one that had issues with directions. Now that we have gotten my stupidity out of the way, let's take a closer look at the Brewfest itself and what they did well.To do this we are going to break it down with a photo collection.

The location was excellent, on the outskirts of Leesburg adjacent to Morvern Park. Parking was plentiful and free and to keep things interesting Civil War re-enactors had encamped nearby. Musketry occasionally rang out throughout the summer day.

Safety first! This was actually a reoccurring theme throughout the event. Here is a prime example, the festival had organized a shuttle service of several coach busses that could transport people to and fro from the Vienna metro. You paid a little more for your tickets but didn't have to worry about all the hassle.

Another example of safety first. Local law enforcement was on the scene, very courteous, and making the rounds.

Kids had an area all for themselves with not just two bouncy houses...

...but also other fun activities including balloon animals...and seriously, who doesn't love balloon animals. Seriously, this was a nice inclusion and promoted a family friendly atmosphere.

The designated driver tent was manned and providing complimentary beverages for those responsible heroes.

Law enforcement officers made the rounds throughout the festival grounds.

Organized and plentiful spaces for people to relax, talk, and eat their foods. In the background, a decent amount of facilities for people to relieve themselves also.

Speaking of foods, there were a wide variety of foods for peoples enjoyment. Not only the usual assortment of beer festival food like sausages and pretzels, but also Thai, paninis, and other various sundries.

Plenty of open space between the tents...Brewvival take note. I can't stress how important this element is. Nobody likes to be packed in like sardines. In the center row were a variety of vendors and artisans adding to the festival atmosphere.

There was live music, always a nice addition to any festival. Rebelicious entertains the crowd during their set. Overall there were 8 bands throughout the two day event.

All these above elements form a nice solid foundation so people can enjoy their time at the festival, but they came here for a reason. So let's actually take a look at the beer. Before we dive to far in though...

...a word of thanks to the volunteers. They did a great job. All the tasting booths were manned by a motivated and fun volunteer corps that was friendly, courteous, and hard-working. This allowed the brewers a chance to talk with folks.

Your major sponsor, Vintage 50, is present and serving up their own quality brews...

...with head brewster Kristi Griner showing off her hard working kicks.

So to wrap this up. What makes a good beer festival? I think you can break it down to these seven basic points: (in no particular order)

Entertainment for all ages

A diverse selection of quality brews

Ample food selection!

Space and plenty of parking/ accessibility.

Safety!

Motivated staff and volunteers.

A proper amount of facilities for folks to relieve themselves.

I'm sure there are other things I have missed, but all in all the NoVa Summer Brewfest hit all those marks and then some. I applaud their efforts on pulling off a great festival and I look forward to the NoVa Fall Brewfest this October.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Last week we looked and ranked seven non-alcoholic brews. One of our slight changes of pace. Some of you may have felt shortchanged, since these weren't particularly summer seasonals. This week we get back on track but make another slight deviation, getting away from the standard pale wheat ales that make up a majority of summer brews and instead look at two other options.

Our first candidate is Sour Cherry Ale by Flying Dog Brewery. This is a Berliner Weisse, a style of beer that we really haven't looked at too closely yet here on JGF. The style is acidic, effervescent and tart. Reminiscent to champagne in some ways. Back at the height of their popularity in the 19th century they were often drank mixed with syrups like woodruff or raspberry.

With that in mind the Sour Cherry Ale comes well prepared and hits the right marks. It pours a clear red color with a pinkish head that vanishes almost as soon as it sets up. It does have a big sour cherry smell. On the drink it has decent acidity, a pleasant tartness, and nice carbonation. It is light on the tongue finishing off fairly dry. No need for a syrup with this one, the sour cherry flavor holds strong throughout the drink into the aftertaste but doesn't overstay its welcome. It comes in at a sessionable 4.6% ABV.

This was a good cheese beer. I enjoyed it with gruyere, aged gouda, and some sharp English cheddar. Decent brew overall that can punch above its weight in a variety of summer social settings.

Brewed in the traditional style of a Berliner Weisse, this beer has a delicate malt base that is enhanced through natural acidification in the brewhouse*. The result is a distinctive tartness complemented by the sweetness of real cherries added during fermentation.

The other candidate for tonight is Good Juju by Left Hand Brewing. I have a confession to make, ginger as a flavoring makes me nervous. It can be overwhelming when not used prudently and ruin perfectly good food and drinks. I have had a few bad experiences in my time. Suffice it to say, I approached this beer with some caution.

There is a faint ginger smell on the pour, and it sets up in the glass with a clear golden amber color with a minimal head that left right after it arrived. The ginger is there in the drink but as a whole it was rather uneventful. There is no real character to speak of on the drink, a faint teasing a ginger at best and the carbonation was a bit low. The aftertaste is a flat bitterness mixed with a hint of ginger. Other than the novelty of the ginger in the beer there was nothing that stood out about this brew. Remove the ginger and you are left with a meh beer.

I expected a bit more zing to this and I'm left wondering what this beer is trying to accomplish. I would argue that here is a case where the brewer never figured out what the speciality ingredient, in this case ginger, is supposed to do. Is it a subtle, nuanced background item amplifying a good beer, or is it up front on center stage with the beer enhancing it? In this case it doesn't do either of these with any sure-footedness. It comes in at 4.5% ABV.

I applaud the effort by Left Hand but in this case I wouldn't recommend this brew other than as a one off novelty.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

We are going to nerd out a little bit for this one. First off I love maps and charts. Second I love seeing information cleverly presented. Places like Griff's Graphs, Indexed, and Comments on the Social Graph are all cool sites to visit to see ways to present information in interesting context. (There are many, many more out there.)

But we are here about beer. So here are a couple of cool maps and charts with interesting beer information.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Skye: Every so often we step away from the craft scene and look into the smaller niches and crevices to explore spaces the might not be looked at. Last time Rudy and I looked at gluten-free beers, this time we take a gander at those misjudged, unloved children: non-alcoholic beer.Rudy: For the longest time in my drinking career those two words made about as much sense to me as decaffeinated coffee….What? Most of us see them daily or at least every time we pass the beer isle in the back of the store, hidden from view. If you happen to be in one of the bigger grocery stores with a large liquor selection they will segregate the Non-alcohol from the alcoholic beverages. You might be asking why…well the first thought is that demand for non-alcoholic beer is obviously less than the main stream high octane craft brews and commercialized beers that we have come to know, love and consume. One might think that, but actually there is a strong surge in non-alcohol beers and you might be surprised at the brewery’s that are making very good, (I hate to say it), beers.

I chose three beers to taste, from the high to the low end of non-alcoholic beers. First up was:

This beer comes in two distinctive varieties “Premium” and “Golden Amber”, both of these beers are very good. They have distinctive color and taste, a bit skunky, [ed. note: skunkiness may be attributed to the time of import, agitation in transit or light pollution from sitting on the shelf] but full bodied and very smooth.

Yes, another German malt…I loved this beer in my youth, one of the all time go to beers in the fridge. I have to say, at first taste it was the same and then after a couple more swigs I began to feel like something was missing. It was very distinct in contrast and flavor, but it was like drinking your favorite pop, (soda) and it only has some of the syrup. It is good and you can drink it, but you could also wait until they fix it.

If you want a beer that tasted the same without the alcohol this one nailed it!

Guinness is a great brewery and this beer has a great color and mild caramelized overtones. I think it is a little muted and watery, but not bad. I am not saying that I would trade this for a real Guinness, but if I was the designated driver and all they had from the brewery were Guinness and the non Guinness…I would still hold one in my hand and be jealous all night long.

Skye: I choose four different brews. Three of them I found in my local Total Wine and the last I stumbled across in a small English Tea Shop here in Virginia. In my view the point of a non-alcoholic brew is to be a decent simulacrum to it's alcohol-based brother. It needs to look like beer, smell like beer, act like beer, and most importantly taste like beer. One thing to note, if you want good NA beer you are going to pay a bit of money.

Looks like beer - Yes, dark on the pourSmells like beer - No, very little smell actuallyActs like beer - No, way to fizzy and noisy on the pourTastes like beer - No, definitely not

The can tells me that this is made with real Bass beer, so at least it has that going for it. It poured like soda, a lot of fizziness and noise. The head disappeared very quickly. It's sweet, slightly flat, a clear amber color. It's a refreshing beverage something you could drink in place of a soda if you wanted to.

Drink your Beck's NA while enjoyinga bratwurst and you won't bedis

Verdict: This is a soda version of a shandy with some beer flavoring. Enjoyable but definitely not beer-like at all.

Beck's Non-AlcoholicImported from Germany.Looks like beer - Yes, nice golden colorSmells like beer - Yes, smells like a cheaper Euro lagerActs like beer - Yes, pours with a fizzy head that dissipates but neverTastes like beer - Yes, tastes fairly malty but there is a bit of hops to balance things out.

I had this with bratwurst and spaetzel and it stood up very well. It does a lot of things fairly right for a lager, it's hopped fairly well, decent carbonation. The hops are there in the nose and on the taste, but it doesn't have the crisp bite. I found that body wise something was not quite right, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The malt extract is big enough to provide some cover.

Verdict: Overall this is a decent simulacrum of beer, easily drinkable and was surprising decent with the bratwurst.

Looks like beer - Yes, nice golden colorSmells like beer - No, smells like a malt extract bombActs like beer - Yes, but the head disappears really fastTastes like beer - No, tastes like light malty water…that is not a good thing.

When I purchased these I had high hopes for this since Paulaner tends to brew decent, quality brews. Needless to say I am sorely letdown. This is not very good at all. There is no body to it, it doesn't taste at all like beer instead going for an overwhelming but weak malt taste. There is little hop presence and what is there makes no impression. The aftertaste is a faint blah of malt extract. The only thing it has going for it is decent carbonation but it made me burp which only served to remind me how poor this was. It is a constant reminder that you are not drinking a real beer.

Verdict: Avoid. If this is the only thing in the cooler drink a soda instead. If you are dying of thirst in Death Valley and this is all that is left then yes drink it, but it will still taste like disappointment.

Looks like beer - Yes, nice golden straw color, Smells like beer - Yes, but it is more faint, with a mild hoppy smellActs like beer - Yes, great fizzy head on the pourTastes like beer - Yes, but it is lighter on the taste

This is a light beer equivalent for NAs. It is does have a decent bite on the drink, but not much body to it at all. A decent hop presence and good carbonation, there is some maltiness but it is more background noise, no real aftertaste to speak of other than a very faint bitterness. This is decent if unremarkable, but it is a refreshing brew and would go well on a hot summer picnic.

Verdict: If you want a lighter tasting NA then go get the Buckler.

Rudy: I am happy to say that, although Skye has once again given me a challenge that I was not too sure I was going to enjoy… I did have fun finding out about the new beers that are out there on the back shelves hidden from the lime light, but are still useful and desired by those who can not participate in the consumption of real honest to goodness alcoholic brews. Today’s brewers have found new and inventive ways to give us the full bodied taste, smell and color that embodies the alcoholic beverage without the alcoholic substance.

Skye: If you need to take one for the team you don't have to be miserable while you do it. Hopefully these recommendations help point you in the right direction when choosing a non-alcoholic brew. This shows that you don't have to sacrifice taste and enjoyment. Happy Independence Day and remember to be responsible and safe out there!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Before we dive into the final part of the interview I want to take another moment to say thanks to Stulli and Valli for taking the time out of their busy schedules to talk to me and share some of their tasty beer. It was a privilege. Now onto the thrilling conclusion!

Valli: Yes, just a couple months ago some guys started importing BrewDog and Mikkeller and you can now get those down at Micro Bar.

We talked a little bit about how you are walking that fine line between craft brewing and that you have an industrial brewery backing you. How do manage that and still be able to produce these diverse, for Iceland, brews?

Valli: It has been a process really.

Stulli: It has been a steep uphill battle and getting the right people in the right places has really helped.

Valli: We have managed to build up a reputation and people have finally realized that it is best to allow us to do what we want.

Stulli: What we want is to introduce consumers to the wonders of beer and what the top floor sees is that we are increasing the positive reputation of the company.

Valli: We are building up the name Egils and that is one of the many roles of Borg. For example we came out with a 12% imperial stout and it sold out in one day.

Stulli: The beer culture being the state that it is, it is a prime opportunity to introduce to the people fresh beer in the style it is being approached in American and Europe. The small breweries, interesting styles, high gravity beers, and doing that in the best way possible so that the consumers get the best quality product as possible.

How collegial is the craft beer community around here or are you all still just a small band of rebels?

Stulli: Uh, I don't know (laughs).

Valli: For example Einstok is actually not intended for the Icelandic market. It is actually a brand owned by Americans. So it is basically just contract brewed up north in Iceland...

Stulli: …and we are lucky enough to get some of it in the market here because it is brewed here.

Valli: There are four types of Einstok being made and we can't get one of them on a regular basis.

Stulli: Yes, it is a contract brewing gig, Americans approached the people at Viking about contract brewing for them.

Valli: But this actually also shows the quality of the brewmaster they have. He is working a very big system, well in comparison, and manages to pull out these beers with no experience producing anything like this before, so they can do it domestically if they want it.

Stulli: Well they just marketed it in cans as their summer ale.

Valli: Right, the white ale, he apparently made two different types of batches of it and the one that the Americans didn't pick Viking sold as their summer beer.

This is where the magic happens!

What do you want people to know about Borg?

Valli: Basically that we are making different types of beer.

Stulli: We are trying to brew the best beer we can make, trying to make honest products, having fun.

Valli: The big goal is to introduce different types of flavors. Get people to try new stuff. Essentially the easiest thing in Iceland is to be on the forefront of this movement because no one has done anything.

Stulli: So it sort of makes it easy for us to introduce a lot of things because people just don't know any better, so when I say make things as honest as possible I mean we are trying to make proper styles, proper beers, proper flavors, and not necessarily to style but make interesting things and be honest about them. It's about quality.

Monday, July 2, 2012

It’s July and we have a holiday smack dab in the middle of the week. Happy Independence Day everyone! I prefer my holidays adjacent to the weekend, but I’ll gladly take a midweek break this time of year.

We were trucking along pretty well until we got smacked around by the storm of Friday night which put a kibosh on all the power in my house. Power is back so you can expect the conclusion to the Borg Brugghus interview tomorrow.

Since Independence Day falls on Wednesday excessive partying may not be in the cards but we have you covered since Rudy and I have sampled an assortment of non-alcoholic beers and will have our report out on the morning of July 4 to let you know if any of them are worth your time.

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